


Dreamwalker

by saythename



Series: The four seasons of love [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: AU, M/M, Yôkai, dreamscaping, japanesefolklore, markmin, summerfic, yutae, yutaeisjustinthebackground
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 17:10:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11467977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saythename/pseuds/saythename
Summary: Don't you just want to fall in love in the summer?





	Dreamwalker

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Natsume Yuujinchou, basically wrote it because I was playing Onmyoji (yes, that cellphone game) and missed Nana like crazy

Have you ever chased after something unreachable?

Something you didn't even fully grasp the meaning of it but you just can't help about run after it?

Mark is in the middle of experiencing it all. Despite inhaling deeper and faster, his lungs were barely catching up with his feet flying on the dark ground as his eyes locked on a white dot in the far distance through the void. 

It always seems to speed up even faster whenever he rushed towards it, yet he just knew he couldn't let go, he couldn't lose sight of it again. 

His pursue was abruptly stopped as his body was propelled forward. His eyes snapped open to meet the cab driver and Jisung's questioning looks.   
It took him a minute to remember where he was at that moment and quickly get out of the vehicle, not before leaving a tip to the driver. 

Two familiar figures were quickly walking towards them as once as their eyes caught Mark's, both with the same happy grin dotting their faces.  
He watched his younger brother running into grandmother's arms for a hug as grandpa turned towards with him wrapping his arms around his shoulder similarly.  
It has been so long since he has come back here, Mark reminisced. Jisung and him used to have so much fun at this summer house when they were younger. The red tilt and the brick walls triggered a vague memory in the back of Mark's mind.  

The neighbors next door seems to have decided to enjoy the pleasant weather as well as they greeted the grandparents Lee and their grandsons with a friendly wave of hand from their front garden as their youngest son curiously glanced at the newcomers.   
The young boy shyly approached them once grandpa Lee waved at him to come closer. He politely introduced himself as Chenle and said that he was a year older than Jisung.   
Two boys of similar ages immediately hit it off despite a little language barrier and were already making plans to see Chenle's collection of Pokemon figurines when they arrived at the front porch. 

To Mark's relief, they still had the courtesy to ask if he wanted to join them, but not wanting to disturb their fun, he simply shook his head and told them to have fun.  
His eyes followed the two boys running away and returned inside once they safely arrived at the neighboring house.

After sorting out his and Jisung's luggage and gifted to grandpa and grandma the presents his parents prepared, Mark found himself setting on the porch, not knowing what to do next. Donghyuck would only arrive tomorrow, in the meanwhile Mark would have to figure out a way to entrain himself to those long aimless hours.   
A voice on the back of his head was nagging him to get up and sneak his lyrics notebooks out to work on in secret, but it will be contrary to the reason that his parents suddenly decided of sending him on this summer trip. 

It all started last fall when Mark was torn between choosing to pursue his second year of high school specializing in science or music. The first option would be judged preferable by his parents since it will lead him to a bright future, yet the second one was speaking to his soul and sparked a passion that he never he could possibly have had before he first stepped into the school's of hip hop club.

Not wanting to disappoint his parents or compromise his dream, he went with doing both, and it turns out to be even more than exhausting than he ever expected.  
The never ending exams and homework added to the practice, music composition and rap competition he joined behind his parents' back, Mark feared everyday that he would finally crack under the pressure and have a meltdown. His parents were concerned about the state of his health and were implying more and more directly that when that if a pass-time is consuming him too much, maybe it would be better to let go. The leader of the rap club has also hinted a couple of times that he couldn't continue on like so and needed to make a choice, a choice that Mark had no clue how to choose. 

On the edge of mental breakdown, his high school therapist suggested he should get some fresh air of the suburbia in the summer that it will definitely do him some good to his current condition.  
Therefore, his parents sent him on this journey in the hope of relaxing his stressed out body and soul from the tiring second year in high school and recharge his energy before going back in fall and making the big decision on college application.

Though he was supposedly on vacation, his brain got used to be productive whenever his eyes are open, so there he was, debating if he should get working on the rap lyrics he needed to finish for his friends' performance or take a nap instead under the sunny rays and pull an all-nighter instead. 

His grandmother passing by to retrieve the hanging clothes seemed to have noticed his boredom and asked him whether he'd like to go help pick up a few ingredients missing for the dinner. She always made sure to remind him there is no need to hurry and take a look around the village before he comes home.  
Mark accepted the offer with gratitude and took the chance to clear his mind. He bided Farwell to his grandparents before directing his feet towards the exit.

The streets were quiet and clean, and the trees next to the sidewalk offered a nice shade to the passersby from the burning late afternoon sun. An earthy scent mixed with the blooming wild flowers filled the air. A small village like so was something foreign and refreshing to Mark as a nice change from the chaos of a busy city like Vancouver.   
Fortunately, their summer cottage was situated in an area with a large Korean population in Hakone, therefore he didn't have too many difficulties finding his way around.

He wandered around aimlessly and enjoyed the lovely breeze that brushed against his blonde curls.  
After passing by a few roaming cats, something unexpected was waiting for him as he turned the corner of the block.   
A long stone stars leading high up the mountain attracted his gaze. On top of it, two red wooden columns were supporting the gate of what Mark presumed was a Shinto shrine that he has previously saw on TV. 

An uneasy chill runs down his spin, yet his body was being pulled towards it as his legs started climbing up by their own. Stone lanterns decorated the sides of the path and Mark couldn't tell where but feel a certain sense of familiarity in them. Soon he reached the entrance elaborately sculpted which was impressive to a Korean Canadian kid who hasn't had much chance coming back to appreciate the finesse of Buddhist arts.  
He strolled around the different parts of the temple and regretted not bringing his phone to capture a few of the amazing structures of the sacred place.  
Among all the flourishing plants and greenery around him, there was something in particular that caught his attention.  
A tree denuded of all leaves and flowers was standing tall in the middle of the shrine surrounded by a low metallic fence making the intruder wonder about the story behind its existence. A familiar white light shaped like a flower flashed down the trunk as Mark quickly found himself curled down reaching for it. 

"Hey, what are you doing here?" A voice suddenly resonated from behind startled the young boy a little almost hitting his head on a branch in the process as he tried to stand up.

The owner of the voice was a man in his twenties with a sharp gaze, glistering in amber under the sunlight almost like the ones of a feline. He had dark hair cut short with bangs almost hanging down to his eyes and was wearing a simple black robe. 

The man seemed to been startled as well once he had a clearer view of the younger's face and has been since staring him in contemplation for an uncomfortably long time with a serious frown twisting his eyebrows. As Mark was debating if the latter would notice if he just slowly back off and start running, a strong hand grabbed him stopping him in the motion, forcing him to turn around as the stranger opened his mouth: 

"Have you been here before?"

"No" Mark shook his head a little taken aback with the sudden interrogation, lowering his eyes to his shoes and nervously twisting his feet.

"Don't lie!" frowned the stranger, his intense gaze almost piercing through his head. 

"No, I don't remember ever coming here before" Mark replied with a louder voice raising his hands up defensively and added sincerely "I swear"

Mark let out a small sigh of relief as he felt the hand on his shoulder soften. It seems like the man judged his answer honest enough before turning back, telling him coldly:

"Go home, don't ever come back."

Mark didn't need him to repeat twice before quickly turning on his heels and rushing towards the stairs running down. 

Yet the man called out stopping him once again before he can walk away. Staring back at Mark's questioning look, the stranger stepped closer and bit his lips before saying with a hesitant voice:  
"Dreams are mirrors of one's deepest desire, even when forgotten, but it is important to remember that they are merely a mirage, an illusion. Don't let it fool you, since the thin line between reality and dream is delicate and can be deadly when crossed"

Mark had the urge to burst into a laughter since it sounded like verses of some script that Donghyuck used to practice for theater but instead, he had to opted for the second best option which was asking carefully: "Can you explain a little more?" 

The dark haired man shook his head and murmured "I have already said too much." before shooing him off again "Now go."   
This time Mark left for good and definitely made mental notes of avoiding this place in the future.   
   
Mark mentioned the weird encounter he had in the forest to his grand father after the supper who nodded at the anecdote and exclaimed:  
"Oh, that must be Taeyong then. He's the shrine’s priest." 

No matter how little and distant knowledge he has about Japanese religion and culture, that guy has nothing of the kind and welcoming image of a priest he'd see in churches before. 

His grandpa seems to have read his thoughts and reassured him:  
"He can look a little intimidating at first, but once you get to know him, he's in fact a quite nice young man." 

Who said I wanted to get know him anyway Mark dissed inside before standing up and bidding his grandparents goodnight.   

 

 

***

The first thing he saw white. 

Spread out unto miles and miles. 

The alpine pins trees were covered in a soft linen of silver shining. 

Flakes danced like fairies descending from the sky slowly before merging into the pristine world made of the purest color. 

His awestruck expression soon turned into a grimace once hit by a freezing breeze mercilessly infiltrating the thin cloth wrapped around his body, leaving him shivering as he realized how underdressed he was for the weather with in a t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants.

He cried out for any sign of living but the wind carried his voice faster than he could speak.

Shivering in the cold, all he could do was lowering his head, his chin almost touching his chest and wrapping his arms closer to his torso as a weak attempt of settling from the ferocity of the winds as his eyes searched for any landmarks that could save him from this distress.

The stinginess of the winter gust was sharply piercing his cheeks and his teeth were clacking uncontrollably. His tinge of hope lights up when he saw a white smoke raising in the distance. 

Relieved to escape death by hyperthermia, Mark quickened his pace sinking at each step, and soon his now numbed feet tripped upon a branch and fell through two tall pin trees in the surrounding forest. 

As he let out a groan of pain, his eyes caught a structure that he realized was a small wood cabin.

Unable to take the cold any longer, Mark quickly stumbled to stood up, legs wobbling a little in the snow. He managed to knock on the door twice nearly passing out.

The door was quickly pushed open revealing a slim figure with a pair of light brown eyes so gorgeous they were almost enough to make him forget about his now frozen limbs. 

They reminded him of the warmth of hot chocolate in a cold winter day, as if starring at them long enough would be able to chase the glacial feeling away. 

The latter was clearly surprised about his sudden appearance as well, yet his slightly parted lips quickly turned into a wide smile showing small and white pearls-like teeth, the brightest he has ever seen if Mark may comment.

"You must be freezing" the young boy pulled out first from their staring contest first and invited "Come in quickly."

Still in awe of such a fairy like appearance in a forest, Mark didn't even notice the younger has tugged his hands in his own and pulled him inside. 

"Your hands are cold" Noticed the owner and offered "Let's light up a heater for you. We haven't used that in a long time, but for once I am glad we didn't throw it away."

Wrapped in layers of blanket that the latter scattered from around the house, his senses finally slowly came back to him once the vapor elevating from the small cup introduced into his hand moments ago fogged his view a little and its warmth flowing into his fingers.

Mark took a good look around him after taking a generous sip of the hot cup of tea. He was sitting on edge on a stair in the corridor opening on a garden, similar the one in his grandparents' cottage.

There were a few large and strangely shaped stones scattered around the garden that was traced with sand in the bottom with a few plants in the background that he couldn't clearly make up their types. 

He couldn't see the roof on top of the garden, noting it must have been quite high, he assumed. Quite strange, he must point out, as if it was in a whole dimension cut from the roaring storm of the outside world. 

Footsteps resonated in the corridor and soon, the beautiful stranger that welcomed him into his shelter came back again balancing a tray in hands. 

The younger sat down before placing another source of heat next to his feet that Mark deduced was a small bronze heater fuelled by coal upon closer inspection.

"We don't get much visitors around here, so it took me a while to find it" apologize the owner of the house that looked slightly younger than him.  

"Thank you very much" acknowledged sincerely Mark once the cold-induced uncontrollable trembling of his teeth stopped "I didn't even ask for your name yet, I'm Mark" 

"People call me Nana around here" The boy's voice was deeper than expected yet there is an intoxicating sweetness and warmth in it.

Those were the last words Mark managed to grasp before suddenly felt an acute pain in his head as the vision of the boy and the garden disappear under growing white phosphenes.

After that, he found himself floating in the void, with a familiar voice repeatedly calling his name growing stronger.

 

***

"Mark! Mark! MARK LEE!"

Mark snapped his eyes open to a zoomed-in face of Donghyuk, almost punching the younger in the process.  

"What the heck dude?" yelled out Mark like any other normal person would finding his cousin climbing on top of him screaming on top of lungs like he was in some sort of rock concert.

"Finally you are awake" Donghyuck settled to sprawl on the other's legs.

"Get off me" scolded Mark as he tried pushing the younger's weight away who resisted back even more just to piss him off as the best cousin he is. 

"What have I done in my previous life to deserve having you in my relatives?" sighed Mark, defeated.

"You must have saved the Earth or something! Though I'd love to hear more reasons on why I am perfect, we have a packed schedule ahead so get up snowflakes" Donghyuck retorted wittily as he always did before pulling the sheets away.  

A newly formed large water stain can be seen on his bed drape under his sheet that instinctively reminded Mark of the snow he has witnessed last night.

In the meanwhile, as Mark was lost in his own thoughts, Donghyuck frowned and scrunched his nose in disgust seeing the mess: "Ew, gross, dude, I know but it is whole puberty thing or whatever, but still fking gross, control your hormones!"

Mark almost choked on his own spit hearing his cousin's not so innoncent association skills and immediately retorted: "It is not what you think it is! It's melted snow!" 

"Yeah? Snow in July? Totally legit." snorted Donghyuck 

Yet before he could how to clarify the whole weird event of last night, he heard another voice from the staircase:

"Hyung?" 

"Don't you dare taint the pure soul of our Jisung with your filthiness" Donghyuck walked towards the youngest and covered his eyes as he shouted him a dramatic glare like if he wasn't the first relating to those dirty thoughts.

"Hurry up loser, we are waiting for you downstairs!" yelled out the younger again from the bottom floor.  

Mark shook his head and grumbled the disrespect he gets everyday from his siblings. As he stood up and got dressed, his mind naturally wandered back to the dream that seemed so surreal it could have been taken straight out of a fantasy book. 

But frankly, he wasn't an 8-years-old girl named Lucy who magically discovered a whole new magical world inside a wardrobe and it was too early to deal with shits like  
Donghyuck and Mark wanted to fell back to sleep already even it is only 8.

Speaking of sleep, all the images of his dream flashing back were still quite vivid in his mind with one encounter in particular.

Nana, mumbled Mark to himself that name a few time, savoring the nice sound of that name rolling on the tip of his tongue. 

An unknown fear stroked him of forgetting all about it after today, as if it was just like any other dream that will be erased at the end of the sunset, forgotten in the routine of the daily life. 

His worry turned about to be unbased since not only he hasn't forgotten about it, that dream haunted his thoughts all day long even with the constant harassment and insouciant remarks of Donghyuck.

He shouldn't ponder so much about such unimportant episode, yet he did. A part of him wished to see him again, that young boy fitting so well in that white robe and smiling the brightest smile again, he had so many questions, so many thoughts he wanted to share with him. 

Even though Mark kept saying to himself that boy was probably nothing more than a concoction of his mind trying to clean up memories in his sleep, but there he was half nervous, half expecting, Mark felt his eyelids become heavy before being drifted slowly to dreamland.

 

***

Mark was almost ecstatic once he opened his eyes to a world of white again, quickly tracing the road back to the house as best as his memory remembered.

He swore to himself that he won't forget to wear a warmer coat to sleep tomorrow trembling in the cold, and soon arrived once again the old wooden cabin before quickly knocking on it

"Oh!" Greeted happily Nana like the previous day. "You came today as well! Good thing I lighted the furnace just in case."

Indeed, the cabin was much warmer than yesterday and Mark found himself surprisingly at ease in there despite only coming once. 

A meow welcomed him in addition this time and Mark locked his eyes to a Persian cat with his golden orbs lustering with marvels like the one of a human would. 

Mark crouched down a little to pass his fingers through the soft beige fur of the animal who was purring in pleasure and squinting his eyes.

"I see you are getting along well with Yuta hyung" Nana came back again with a tray in hands.

"You call a cat hyung?" asked Mark startled. 

"He's older than me so usually out of politeness we call people older than us with formal titles like hyung." Nana explained patiently as if he was talking to a five-years-old

Feigning an offended frown, Mark argued with a joking tone: "I might be from Canada, but I still know that alright?"

"Where is Kanada?" asked curiously the younger patting the place next to him to sit down in front of the open garden like last time. 

"It is quite far away in North America." Mark tried the best he could to describe it "It takes about 10 hours in airplane to get to the other side of the ocean"

Noticing the confusion in the latter's eyes grew deeper at the mention of all the foreign words, Mark simply summarized instead as: "It is basically a very, very far away place that  
snows quite a lot, almost as much as here."

Still not fully convinced, Nana nodded nevertheless and set a small cup of green tea and a plate of a confectionary sweet next to his guest.

Unlike last time, the whole scenery in front of him appeared clearer today, stood in the middle of the garden was a small tree with delicate yellow flowers on them which much made Mark realize something:

"I wanted to ask you last time, those flowers are not real?"

The latter shook his head and said: "They are made of silk papers; you humans must have that as well."

"How do you know I am a human?" asked Mark passing a hand in the back of his head

"We don't get many people with bright blonde curly hair around here." chuckled Nana

There was a short pause of silence in which Mark was unsure what he should say next, whether it was too early to ask those burning questions in his mind, they have only met once before and Mark wasn't specially known for being good at small talks (unlike Donghyuck, who would probably have befriended Nana in a blink of eyes and made out plans of hanging out if he was there instead). 

 The latter was the first to break the quietness reigning in the air:

"Try it" He said pushing the plate of delicate sweet treat towards Mark.

Out of politeness Mark complied and Nana eagerly asked once seeing the other biting into it:

"Is it good?" and let out a sigh of relief hearing a positive response from his guest.

"Great, I don't know how they are since I can't taste it." shrugged Nana.

"Why do you get those then?" the question escaped Mark's mouth before he could think twice, yet Nana didn't seem to mind:

"Those are offerings to my alter."

A part of Mark's brain clicked a little hearing the last word kind yet it still added more questions than answers. 

"Food isn't essential for our existence at all" added Nana to Mark's regards mischievously noticing the latter's dumbfounded expression "unlike you humans do. In term of  
eating, we do it more figuratively, we imprint our blessing on it and than the humans can take them back home and eat them."

Now Mark's suspicion on his identity was somewhat confirmed as he was struggling to formulate the best way to put it, but Nana spoke faster, his mischievous grin growing wider: 

"So are you going to ask it or not?"

"If you are not human... then who are you?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow" Nana deflected the question "Gotta keep a little suspense if I want to keep you around for some company."

Mark followed the other's gaze to a pale globe in the sky that he failed to notice previously on top of the garden that is slowly moving down into the horizon. 

"The moon is setting down; you must go back now. See you tomorrow!"

 

***

Mark yarned for seventh time in the span of five minutes. And unsurprisingly, Donghyuck who had the lowest endurance one could ever get had reached his limit. 

The young teenager who recently got his hair dyed bright red prior to his arrival in Japan turned around and asked with an unhidden tone of annoyance: "Dude can you at least pretend you are not having the most boring time of your life with us?"

"Sorry, sorry" apologized Mark try to swallow another yarn "Just didn't manage to get much sleep last night."

"Where are we going anyway?" asked Mark sheepishly since he didn't manage to catch much of what was going on since he was brutally dragged out of bed by none other than the dude that has fire for hair in front of him and forced to swallow down some toast and milk before being thrown into the bus. 

"To experience the countryside with one of grandpa's friend! You city kids just stare at your phones and TV all the time" Donghyuck pinched his throat to imitate Grandmother's voice.

Squeezed between the window and an overhyped Jisung chatting with Chenle, speaking in a voice too loud for a tired Mark, but nevertheless, the elder shifted on his seat and tried to find a comfortable position before closing his eyes.

The vehicle finally stopped waking Mark from his short nap in the middle of a field.

A tanned tall man with broad shoulder was waiting for them at the bus terminus and gave them a warm welcome with his heavily accented Korean.

There was a girl in a light blue dress behind his back that shyly peeked at them with big doe eyes. 

"Mark, you must remember Hina? You two used to play so much together last time you came here when you were seven." The man who presented himself as Mr.Nakamura turned  
towards Mark once he saw his daughter's gaze. 

He simply smiled towards the young girl with her long hair attached into two adorable pony tails and tried to hide the fact he didn't recall that at all since it was more than ten years ago.

It turned out the plan their grandfather made for their initiation to nature was helping his friend's strawberry farm business. 

The sky was clear blue with a few scattered cloud high up which would have been wonderful if they didn't have to stand in the middle of smoldered ground sending up heated disoriented haze. 

Mark felt he would soon melt into a puddle of sweat in his completely soaked shirt as he felt the burning rays of mid-July radiating on his head.

His mind automatically thought of how nice if he could transport himself to the winter wonderland of his dream right now, but again, he'd probably be wailing there as well, his life seems to be always at one extreme or another,

His younger siblings and friend were no better, Jisung had been making faces since they started the strawberry picking work.

"I was told it is going to be fun! That's not fun at all!" whined Chenle throwing a freshly picked fruit to Jisung's back.

Jisung attacked back by shaking rapidly his head landing all the sweat drops unto the people around him and soon a dolphin yelp broke through the field and all the berries they picked were used as fighting tools. 

Mark felt as the oldest he has to take the charge, but Donghyuck beat him to it and shouted:

"Stop playing and complaining you two! The faster we finish, the faster we get out of this hell hole and into a magical world of air conditioning" 

Wiping away the last sweat away from his forehead, they finished the whole task around noon.

The two youngest were slightly grumpy being forced to work, but Chenle and Jisung soon forgot all the hassle at the sight of cooled watermelon and sodas waiting for them in the nicely cold dining room.

After lunch, Mr.Nakamura offered them a ride on his small boat around the lake which got Chenle and Jisung excited once again at the idea of fishing and swimming. 

Limbs still sour and heavy, Mark told Donghyuck to go with them instead to keep an eye on Chenle and Jisung.

He sat under the shade of a tree next to the water once the boat disappeared from his field of vision. 

Listening to the monotonous singing of cicadas, Mark was dozing off under the light wind blowing on his blonde strands.

"Can I sit next to you?" Mark looked up to meet Hina standing up next where he was settled. Her chubby cheeks slightly sunburned red added a cute charm to her overall appearance.

"Of course." answered Mark, gallantly moving away slightly, leaving her the best spot possible under the shadow.  

There was a few exchange between them about the weather, until Mark bite his lower lips for a moment and started uncertainly:

"Can I ask you something?" 

Hina shifted her gaze from the water back to him waiting for him to go on.

"Did something strange ever happened around here? Or have ever heard anything of that sorts?" 

Meeting the other's bewildered look, Mark precisded furthermore:

"Like paranormal phenomenon, things like that? Maybe something to do about dreams?"

"I guess?" responded Hina after contemplating for a minute "This village is quite a famous destination for people that are into Japan occultism and folklores after all"

Seeing the incited curiosity in the other's eyes, the girl continued:

"The mountain surrounding the lake is a known sacred place since the Edo period. There are many stories circulating around of people meeting and getting into troubles with all  
sorts of divinities and creatures"

"There is that shrine next to our cottage that I went to the day I arrived, does that have anything to do with it?"

"Yeah, that shrine is quite popular for devotees as well, they are quite a few... special presences residing in there"

 

"I see..."

 

***

"Yuta hyung our foreigner guest has arrived again!" greeted cheerfully seeing Mark standing in front of his porch. 

"Can you stop calling me that?" asked Mark pretending to be annoyed.

"Alright, Yuta hyung, the boring Mr.Mark has arrived again" complied Nana "I forgot to ask last time what brings you here all the way from Kanata?"

"My parents send me here for summer vacation." Mark also kindly explained to his host the concept of of school and vacation.

"So you will be studying your whole life?" asked innocently Nana

"No" chuckled Mark before jokingly mentioning "I'd have to work at some point because some of us actually need to eat to survive."

Nana hit him in the arm for the pleasantry and asked: 

"What kind of work do you want to do in the future?" 

"I am want to be a music producer" Mark tried his best to explain such an alien word to the latter "It is someone that basically write melodies and rhymes, you know like music." 

"Like haikus?" Nana was quick to associate the new words to things he knew.

"Kind of, I only write them in English though." 

"Ahhh, that language of the West you told me about before." nodded Nana. 

"Do you want hear it?" suggested Mark carefully.

"I'd love to!" Nana clapped his hands together happily.

Among all the raps he has written, only one came in Mark's mind without hesitation seeing the being in front of him.  

Large eyes staring at him full of anticipation, Mark felt quite nervous for once to perform in front of a single person audience (two, if you count Yuta hyung dozing of in a corner) before starting:

"You can be my moonlight and sunshine and  
Morning day  
They’re all names that suit you  
Angel, that’s you  
Let’s go up to the clouds let’s fly"

Nana smiled as he finished and asked: "What does that mean? "

"It means thanks for having me here, and it's nice meeting you and your cat." Mark has never been a good liar and Nana squinted his eyes at the redness creeping unto the other's ears before replying:

"That's a quite long sentence for saying just that."

But it had not bite in it and Nana praised on:

"Well, I don't even know what they mean and I like it, I am sure others that understand it will like it even more."

"My parents think it is silly to pursue a career in something that is so hard to succeed in"

"Nothing is easy in life" said Nana pouring Mark another cup of tea "Even in a static world as here, everyone is fighting to live for a reason or another."

"If I'd really follow my dreams, I'd have to move to a completely different city, start everything by my own " Mark found himself pouring his heart out, revealing the more fragile part of himself that he has never shown before. 

"And it is scary" Nana finished his sentence for him and added "Trust me, I know, facing things you have never experienced previously is hard, but the only constant in any world is change"

"And that's coming from someone that has been stuck in winter wonderland for years?"

"Yeah" chuckled Jaemin, "even a monotonous place like this is forced to move on."

Those dreams went on each night, and little by little, Mark got to know Nana a fraction more than the previous day. Nana would always be so fascinated about all the mundane anecdotes of Mark's daily life. He'd listen and laugh at Jisung and Chenle's pranks and jokes, Donghyuck's savage comebacks and Mark's suffering in all of that chaos. He was eager to learn new words and foreign concepts from Mark, genuinely impressed by the most ordinary life style of humans. The envy in his eyes whenever he heard of the outside world were hard to hide, to the point that Mark said one day:

"I wonder what summer is here, do you guys go swim as well?"

"If you haven't noticed yet, we are in winter here" Mark was taken aback for sarcastic words coming out of such a docile kid, yet unlike Donghyuk's, Mark found Nana's not only bearable, he almost would call it cute.

But he tried to not let the corners of his lips curl up too much and reformulated his question:

"I meant is doesn't it stop snowing and get warmer with the coming of spring?"

"It is always snowing here." Nana let out a small sigh.

"Can't you go somewhere else than?" asked carefully Mark.

"Do you really want to know?" Nana's tone was changed from cheerful to serious "There is an immense price to pay by learning such a deep secret." 

"Ok! Maybe not." sheepishly refused Mark.

"I am just kidding" laughed Nana seeing the other's dumbfounded expression, before going back to pat the cat on his lap "I am trapped here because of Baku-san"

"Who's Baku-san?" asked Mark taking a bite of his mochi, frowning a little at the overly sweet taste spreading on his palettes. 

"You are a true foreigner aren't you?" joked Nana before explaining "He's commonly called as the dream eater but belittle known to your humans, he is practically the divinity of dream, I stole one of his books one time, and got caught. And then I got banished here."

"Isn't there a way to get out?"

"Not if he doesn't let me" shrugged Nana carelessly and whispered with such a low voice, as if he was speaking to himself "or if the snow melts."

 

***

Mark was dozing off again and Donghyuck did not appreciate being the only one looking through the instructions to set up the tent:

"Can you even pretend to be a little useful your brat? I could literally plant a stick in the ground and I am pretty sure it would be doing a better job at helping us."

"Sorry" apologized Mark trying to swallow back another yawn making his eyes watery in the process "I have been having trouble sleeping the past days." 

He stood up and started assembling the pieces. The fresh smell of the forest has helped boost up his energy a little, yet he was nevertheless, tired. 

"Yeah, then maybe watch less anime or whatever gross stuffs you are pretending that you are not doing at night and get some fking sleep."

"Donghyuck!" cut off Mark abruptly eyeing him to not curse as his younger brother and his friend approaching them.

"What's wrong with you anyway? Insomnia has never been your thing, even when you called me sobbing over the phone about how much work you had to do" pointed out Donghyuk throwing another branch into the campfire. 

Mark played deaf ear and pretended to be focused on listening to Chenle reciting how Jisung almost fell into the pond as they tried to catch the fish. 

Camping has always been a pleasant activity to Mark ever since he was little thanked to living Vancouver and surrounded by quite a number of nation parks. However, this time, he found himself having trouble sleeping at night because someone was missing from his dream. Indeed, after the three-day trip, Mark couldn't wait to get back to his own bed again. 

 

***

"Aren't you tired of it?" asked Mark looking at the growingly occupied tree in the garden and clarified his question to the confused gaze of the latter "Making paper flowers and all."

Nana simply hummed in response, his fingers continuing at the folding of silk paper into a delicate plant and attaching thread at its end. As Mark thought he wouldn't get able to get a real answer, the latter spoke again:

"It is a promise I have to keep with someone, someone quite dear to me."

The last mention shouldn't affect him, it really shouldn't, Mark couldn't but ask:

"Who is it?" Mark tried his hardest to play it cool and sounded overly casual "someone you like?" 

Nana gestured him to lean closer with a mysterious expression, before murmuring in such proximity that Mark can feel his cold breath on his ear:

"Maybe?" Before quickly shifting away as he stood up and walked away, but not before turning around and blinked twice playfully his large adorable eyes leaving the latter in a blushing mess behind trying to cool down the heat of his ears. 

"Also, apparently you can make a quite tasty sweet with that type of flower" continued Nana.

"How do you know it is tasty if you can't taste it?" sulked Mark hearing Nana's the mention of someone else.

"That's why I said apparently." Jaemin hit his guest's shoulder with a rolled sheet of paper "I have my sources alright?"

"Are they credible?" Mark crooked one eyebrow.

"I'd like to hope so." chuckled Jaemin. 

"No, but seriously, since there is nothing else to do." suggested Mark "You might as well take advantage of the winter and build snowmen and stuff."

"What is snowman?" Now it was Nana's turn to be curious.

"Dude!" yelled out Mark "you have never built a snowman before?"

As if he was displeased with the loudness of the latter's voice, Nana pursed his lips:

"Not everyone grows up in that sweet and perfect life of yours, mister"

"I'll teach you then, come on." dragging the younger by the arm outside.

It was always so cold so Nana wrapped a few layers of blanket around his guest which made Mark's movement quite difficult, but Mark felt he was having the best time of his life in quite a while. 

He would have never thought at his age he'd have so much fun teaching another boy something he found too childish years ago, yet there he was smiling stupidly as if no satisfaction can be greater each time he heard Nana gasped at any small detail he added in his short snowman building 101 crash course. 

"And then you can take some branch and rocks and add it like arms and eyes" explained the blonde boy as his fingers placed to small peddles in the position of his snowman's pupil.

Mark wouldn't hesitate to tell Nana he's doing well and being supportive once it was his student's turn to try, because if he'd been with anyone but him, he knew he could never have that kind of patience. The twinkle in the latter's eyes and the crescents they turned into each time, if he could, Mark just wanted to do nothing but stay here and praise him for every small progress he made to see the proudness on his tone when he told Mark it was almost done.

Nana applied what he learnt impressively quickly (at least to Mark's biased mind) giving his own snowman eyes, and even added his own little touch taking two short and slightly curved branches and placed them on top of the peddle orbs used as eyes.

"Doesn't he reminds you of someone?" asked the brown haired boy with a smile so bright that Mark could almost ignore the mischief in his tone.

"I can't believe you are making fun of me, that kind person who taught you so kindly of how to make it" Mark put on an offended face before asking with a serious voice "Do my eyebrows really stand out that much to you?"

"You said it, I didn't" Jaemin tried to keep his serious face before breaking into a laughter once he saw Mark couldn't find a better argument back. 

"Oh wait, it's missing something." said Jaemin standing up and rushing back inside. 

His familiar figure soon came back, Mark recognized as the paper flower inside the garden.

The younger bended and spread the yellow pieces on top of his snowman's head as hair.

"Now it is complete!" yelled Nana and brought the snowman next to Mark's face before nodding in approval to his own work of art. 

Mark chuckled at Nana's excitement, at least he wouldn't feel so exposed being the only one who built it with someone on his mind and looked down to his own snowman with the roundest eyes and the wide grin he traced with his finger. 

But Mark wouldn't want to let him of so easily, he discreetly formed a snowball with his hand and threw it at the younger's back.

Despite being slightly bewildered at first, a smile swam to Nana's face who quickly guessed what was going on before forming a snowball of his own and throwing it at his opponent. 

They went on for so long that Mark lost track of time. Once his coats and blankets were covered with sticky snow, Mark reached his hand out as a sign of peace treaty, but not before Nana threw another to the latter side.

The younger helped his guest to get up before saying:

"You look like you are freezing, I'll make you some hot chocolate that I received the other day as a sign of gratitude teacher Lee!"

 

***

Summer always seem to pass so much more quickly than any other seasons for students. Between bickering with Donghyuck and Donghyuck 2.0 also known as Chenle and participating in group activities that he was forcefully dragged into, the fondest part Mark had was still when everyone falls asleep. 

Mark always thought can never get boring with Donghyuck around which happened to be true until his days began to appeared dull compared to his nights. If his friends back home ever heard him saying that, they would probably have whistled loud enough for the whole school to turn their heads adding to a few harmless yet dirty jokes.

Mark knew his odd behavior has become more than noticeable, not only Donghyuk and his grandparents were questioning his constant lack of sleep, even Jisung looked concede. He tried his best to act normal as if nothing has changed; therefore, when Hina asked him whether he wanted to go to the festival together he accepted in a blink to appease the growingly suspicion. 

Donghyuk pushed Chenle and Jisung to the opposite direction once they arrived onsite even if the youngest first wanted to follow Mark, but not before his eyes wander between the pair and flashed his cousin a suggestive wink.

Once left alone, Mark scratched the back of his head, lost on what to do next. 

Hina grabbed his hand first and said cheerfully: "Let's go?"

Limited amount of hiragana that he could read, he managed to figure out that the banner on top of his head to reads "Tanabata".  
It hits him the reason behind Donghyuk's strangely wide grin when he told him that Hina invited him there, it was the festival celebrating the reunion of a separated celestial couple. 

Bamboo tree sticks where set up at the entrance for the occasion letting passersby write down their wishes on a piece of paper before hanging it on a branch. 

As Hina bowed her head down and hide her paper while she wrote down her wish, Mark was wondering what he should wish for. He was lost in his thoughts about the thing to write down for so long that the couple waiting behind them were starting to cough subtly pulling him out of his thoughts. Embarrassed, Mark quick scrumbled down a few words in English before being pulled away by Hina.

From the tasty takoyaki to the booth games, Mark was mostly too preoccupied to think of anything else, but he couldn't help but think from time to time watching Hina trying to catch a red goldfish with a paper net, how excited Jaemin would be if he ever saw so many new gadgets and stands and games, and how dazzling that proud smile would be once he managed to get catch one.

"Mark?" A familiar female voice pulled him out of his daydream.

"I am sorry" apologized the blonde boy for missing what his companion just said with sheepish smile "What did you say?"

Hina didn't seem to mind and repeated:

"We should probably get going if we want to find a seat for the fireworks." 

Since Hina explained that she has previously found a secret location with a perfect view on the river that was mostly unknown to others. 

It was indeed much quieter and less crowded than in the place reserved in the festival, so much less people that it was just the two of them.

The highlight of every Japanese summer festival was undebatable the fireworks at the end of the evening, yet it was even more impressive than Mark thought they would be. 

Flowers of fire bloomed vividly through night into unique and breathtaking patterns of light before fading away in a multitudes of stars like painting the sky of its milky way.

"I like you" said Hina suddenly in the midst of the show "Like more than a friend."

"I-I" stuttered Mark, too stunned by the view and too startled by the sudden confession.

He had to take a deep breath before manage to stammer a "I am sorry"

The disappointment in her eyes were undeniable, but most of it was relief, as if she finally took of a heavy weight of her shoulders and expected that answer all along. 

"Is there someone else that you wish you were watching it with?" asked Hina after a short moment of silence. 

Mark found himself speechless once again at that question. Is there any? The face that immediately popped up in his mind upon hearing the question was definitely clear, but does  
the one he wanted to watch it with has someone else in mind that he'd want to share the best of the world with? Most probably yes as well remembering from his answer of last time.

Hina didn't pressure on for an answer and simply hummed some notes of a song that Mark doesn't recognize.

"I don't know if he likes me that way" blurted blankly Mark out of the blue. 

"Have you tried asking?" suggested Hina and once she saw the shy shaking of head as response from the latter broke into laughter:

"Maybe indeed, we won't make a good couple" 

"I think he already likes someone" defended weakly Mark

"Why does it matter?"

At Mark's questioning glance, she continued and said word per word: "I like you, but why does it matter if you like me back?"

"The most beautiful part of falling in love is that irreplaceable warm feeling inside you whenever you think of them. It is that itch on your skin, that urge of understanding and accepting their fragility, their weakness. Loving someone is not necessary has to be reciprocated with being loved. Of course, it would be the best of both worlds if the love was requited, but if it isn't, the memory of you wanting to become a better being just for the soft feelings of another, in itself is rewarding and wonderfully magical."  
Mark suddenly found himself lost, as lost as the first time when he stepped into kindergarten entering such a new world or when he was asked by the school counselor at the end of the semester what he wanted to become in the future, the overwhelming emotions tormented inside and he suddenly felt the urge of break into tears.   
They sat there long after the last firework faded in the sky.  

"I just want him to be happy and I wish to be the one that would make him happy" Mark managed to say.

"Fair enough" nodded Hina "Then why are you scared? If you have made up your mind of break all walls and fighting all obstacles that will show up, why are you so afraid?"

"What if" Mark swallowed back his saliva "The one he likes is much better than me though, I'm probably not that good anyway to start with."

"I'd say if I like you, you must not be that much of bad guy" giggled Hina, before stretching her arms and whined softly "Awn, I just want to fall in love with someone in the  
summer for once."

Indeed, Mark agreed feeling the light night breezing bringing the smell of wild flower mixed with the saltiness of the sea lingering in the air, who wouldn't want to fall in love in such a lovely season.  

They walked past the entrance and past the bamboo trees on which a piece red paper waved in the wind with a messy handwritten in English:

I wish Nana would finally meet the one he kept waiting for.

 

***

"Aren't you tired of waiting?" asked Mark, tone a little frustrated since Hina's words seem to be replaying on repeat like a broken record on his mind for the last few days.

"A lot of time yes" replied honestly Nana "But I always find myself even more miserable if I don't."

"Whoever you are waiting for is an asshole for keeping you here." groaned Mark and surprisingly Nana didn't retort. 

"It does get lonely, but not the reason you are thinking, since I have to wait on top of that one, for someone else now."

"Who?" it slipped out of Mark's mouth faster than before he could think twice. 

"You." Nana was starring directly at him when murmured that word before flashing him a smile that made Mark want to pinch his cheek to see if he wasn't dreaming all this (yet he  
didn't since it really is in his dream and he's kind of scared he'll truly wake up from it).

Nana continued on: "After you leave when the morning comes, I'll clean around the house, make some flowers if I feel like it, but most of the day, I'll simply sit here waiting for you to come the next day" Nana's voice diminushed at the last words and gave him a sheepishly look as he lowered his head. Suddenly Mark felt the temperature inside the cabin has raised almost to match the one of the outside world's summer heat wave as his cheeks turned beet red.  

"Where do you get the material for making those flowers anyway?" Mark tried to hide his embarrassment by changing the subject.

Nana explained "I ask Yuta hyung to go to the village if I ever need anything. I exchange some of the offerings I receive for yellow silk paper and strings"

"There people other than you here?" The unhidden surprise in Mark's tone made Nana snapped his eyes from his work to the latter's face before stopping his guest's  
contemplation

"I won't suggest you going down there though." Mark bowed his side a little in confusion waiting for the other to continue:

"Not everyone is as nice as me, a fresh and young human is quite a delicious piece of meat as some would say."

A witty grin drew on Nana's lips when Mark chocked on his spit at the last part. 

"There are other spirits in this world?" asked Mark feel a shiver running down his spin at the thought. 

"Many" continued Nana, as his slender fingers folding another sheet of paper into a flower shape skillfully "But they never come up to the mountains. Even if if they came, I'll  
protect you, sweetie" before breaking into a laughter at the sight of Mark's face flushed red resonating in the cabin, loud enough to wake Yuta hyung up from his nap.

"Don't you feel alone without some company?"

"They would definitely not see us as good companies." shrugged Nana "We are outsiders to them."

"Why?"

"Because we try so hard to become like humans."

 

***

"Are you trying to get natural smoky eyes and become one of those Youtube makeup guru or something now?" asked Donghyuck commenting on the dark shadow under Mark's eyes. 

"Maybe Mark hyung is going through his emo phase." suggested Chenle, the new found perfect partner in crime of Donghyuck (savage shit 2.0 as Mark would learn to label) and who has now permanently camped into Mark's house and nodded with sophistication "My mom says you have to let teenagers experience stuffs even if they will cringe at it later."

"He sleeps more than any of us combined together." pointed out Jisung his Xbox controller with his eyes fixed on the game "Even grandma got worried this morning."

"I am just sleep deprived from school alright? Need to catch up on it" Mark frustratingly threw the controller away once the red 'You lose' sign flashed on the screen.

"Yeah, right", snorted Donghyuck rolling his eyes 

"Seriously, are you sneaking out to somewhere cool at night?" Donghyuck plopped closer with a zipper motion of closing his lips "I won't tell if you bring me with you."

He is in fact going to somewhere quite fascinating each time. It is strange to be attached to such ridiculous escape, after all it is only a dream, yet the anticipation and excitement that fills his heart every night he settles down in his bed and closed his eyelids before being transported to a land of white was nothing less than magical, not that he'll share it with his asshole of cousin anyway.

"Even if I am, I'll even bring Jisung there before I bring you" retorted Mark brushing him off his side. 

When they ran out of sodas in the middle of their Mario Cart competition, Mark volunteered take one for the team and make a trip to convenience store, but not before he took a detour on his way there.

Carefully entering the imposing red gate, Mark made sure to look right and left making sure there was no sign of the grumpy priest of last time. Luckily, this time was a young lady instead at the entrance that greeted him. 

"I want to make an offering... to a divinity that perhaps is known in the name of Nana?" 

The lady's smile didn't diminish at his flustering attitude and showed him the alter.

 

***

"Mark look!" An excited Nana was all Mark could see once he arrived again inside the cabin "Someone have me one of those fireworks you told me about before!"

"Isn't that great? I wonder who that kind person is" smiled the recently arrived boy as he shook the heavy snow off from his blonde curls. 

Nana blinked at the wide grin on the latter's face before his mouth opened in surprise:

"Did you send me that? How did you find the alter?"

"I met you ever since I stumbled to that shrine so I presumed you must be associated with it."

"Do you like it?" asked Mark carefully, suddenly feel nervous like a helpless teenager girl handing a Valentin chocolate to her crush.

"I love it! Thank you!" praised Nana sincerely and jumped into the other's arm to give him a hug.

Mark suddenly understood why his friends would put so much efforts in gifts destined to their crushs, because sometimes, a smile is the worthy of the sun, the earth and the entirety of the most beautiful and prestigious things of the land and the sky. 

"It was a difficult decision for me to show up to that shrine again though" joked Mark, "that grouchy priest made quite a fuss last time I went." 

Mark let out a loud yelp when he felt a painful scratch on his legs. He lowered his gaze to see the owner's cat hissing angrily at him with his claws out. 

Nana quickly brought the cat into his arms and moved him from the floor to the garden. The cat shouted Mark another glare before jumping unto a rock next to the tree full of yellow flowers.

"What was that for?" Mark was puzzled by the sudden attitude he's been victim of. 

"It's not very nice to mock someone's special one in front of them" chuckled Nana.

"Geez, it's hard to believe he's got a cat girlfriend with that attitude" 

And that's how Mark Lee just earned himself another scratch on his leg.

After the little entr'acte, Nana followed Mark's directions and lighted the sparklers up in a furnace. 

Unlike the typical North American sparklers, those ones when light up show a multitude of colors, yet he found himself less interested in the display than watching the fascination in the other's eyes, how the shine reflected in his twinkling pupils like stars in the nightly sky. It was picture perfect. 

Even if he lighted them of one after another, they still finished the whole packet in less than a few minutes. 

Mark has never wished something could last longer.

"I'll bring you more tomorrow" promised Mark as he turned his gaze towards the younger who to his surprise refused with a shake of his head:

"It is already more than sufficient to be able to witness something so magnificent once. There is an end to everything no matter how great they are; how much they are missed" 

"But what if I don't want it to stop?" Mark was quite stubborn that day.

"Then you'd get hurt, getting attached is unhealthy." Nana pointed it, but he soon sighed, unable to hide the sadness in his tone "That's very convincing isn't it? Especially when that's coming from someone who is utterly stupid waiting for someone for ten years because a stupid promise that probably meant nothing more than the wind to other one."  
Mark didn't know how comfort the other so he simply did what his mother has always done whenever he was sad and hug the latter into his embrace, burying his face into his chest.

They stayed in that position for so long that Mark couldn't feel his arms anymore, but he made no move of letting go and listened to the soft raising and falling of his chest as his large eyes stayed shut. Mark knew Nana doesn't need sleep, yet he didn't dare to break the other's dream of finally living something as close as he can to a human life.  

Upon seeing the other's peaceful face, Mark felt the thin line of equilibrium between friendship and something more that his heart was balancing on was being shattered again. 

 

***

Mark was lost in his thoughts to the point when Donghyuck sneakily took away his popsicle from hand.

"Jisung take Chenle with you and go ahead first, we'll join you right after." Donghyuk pushed the younger ones forward.

Once the youngests left, Donghyuck turned towards Mark who was shifting his feet unnaturally under the pressuring gaze of his cousin. 

"Ok now that the kids are gone, so what's wrong?"

"Donghyuck, I told you before-"

The younger cut him off: "Did something happen back home?"

"No!"

"So is it school? Did you get involved in some drug dealing or gang shit?"

"No! What the fk dude?"

"Ok, not that one either, then is it your love life?"

"...No" It took a split of second longer for Mark to decline this time that didn't escape Donghyuck's sharp ears. 

"Are you sure?" asked Donghyuck smugly "Then whose name were you mumbling in your sleep?"

"You heard it?" asked Mark mouth hanging open in shock 

The sly smirk on his cousin's face was evident that the elder has fallen for his trick "No, but now I know you did."

"Alright Markie, spill it out, which one is Juliet? is it that Hina we meet the other day and kept coming here looking for you?"

Mark shook his head but said nothing more. 

"Then who were you thinking of that wouldn't let you sleep in peace?" Donghyuck is an absolute pain, Mark thought, whenever he wants something he'll pressure you on like a dog  
wanting a treat, perseverant and painfully irritating.

"You won't understand" groaned Mark, burying his face into his hands 

"Try me,"Donghyuck crooked a brow, pleasantly surprised that the latter already seems to have let most of his guards down so easily.

"Fine" There was no way he would win against Donghyuck in an argument anyway. Mark made the younger promise first "Swear that you won't tell alright?"

"Your secret is safe with me." promised the younger gesturing a motion of zipping his lips

"I-I...I had a weird dream."

Donghyuck shouted him a look as if asking he's being serious yet said nothing waiting for the elder to continue.

"There is that boy living in a wooden cabin in the middle of a seemingly endless winter, his name is Nana."

"That's it? A dream?"

"Yeah, but you see, I have been having the same dream over and over again, and they are just so livid. I can remember every detail, every words he said, every of his expressions."

"So a recursive dream?" commented Donghyuck unfazed as he suddenly lost interest. "Dude, you seriously need to go out of your room and meet more people. Getting attached to a character of your imagination is not very sane as we learnt in psych 101."

Mark wanted to talk back, scream back even that Nana was not just a piece of fiction in his mind, yet he couldn't find himself to retort because Donghyuck was absolutely right. He really shouldn't be that bothered even if Nana wasn't just a dream, since he knew there is someone in Nana's heart already.

Yet he still can't help but be drawn to him, like firefly to flames, even if the obvious ending has already been prewritten all along.

He would go back to Canada soon and Nana would still be here waiting for the one he's looking for.

Everything is going back to normal, going back to a life before encountering Nana. 

But why is it so painful?

A part of him feels missing, empty without those nights of dreamy adventures.

Mark couldn't but suppress his feelings, he shouldn't be feeling what he is feeling,  
especially when he knows Nana has already someone anchored in his heart,  
someone irreplaceable,   
someone so lucky to be loved, to be waited.

 

***

 

"You come here an awfully lot lately" said Nana feigning a frowned expression blocking the entrance.

"Hey, I don't get to decide on what I dream" defended Mark.

"I am not complaining" smiled Nana, entering back inside followed by the latter "We could always use an extra pair of hands to finish my trees."

 

***

"You look sickly pale; Casper the ghost boy would be put to shame by your paleness" mentioned Donghyuk as they walked home.  

"It is just cold today." Mark brushed it off pushing his bike out from the garage. 

"You are shivering" frowned Donghyuk and pushed the elder back home.  
Donghyuk turned out to right since Mark was exhibiting symptoms of a really bad cold after that day, coughing and sneezing as if it was the middle of February.

 

***

"Why are you so energic those days?" asked Nana one day "Have you been drinking those coffee things?" 

"No, I guess my body just got used to the cold, I don't even need to wear my robe to sleep anymore" shrugged Mark

"And it is too hot in the real world now, I like here, it cools me down, believe it or not I am actually feeling better here since I think I caught a bad cold the other day and got a fever." Mark tried to light up the mood but a horrified expression started to be draw in Nana's face once he heard that: 

"Don't worry, I won't die from a cold" joked Mark trying to reassure him "But you should stop calling me an idiot from now on, since idiots don't catch cold."

Yet, Nana's frown only twisted furthermore despite the other playful words and took a step closer to press a hand on the other's arm. Mark felt a light sensation of icy burn on his skin, as Nana mumbled to himself:

"I should have noticed it earlier" 

Before Mark understood what was happening, his arm was grabbed and pulled towards the entrance, as he stumbled to keep up with Nana, he tried to ask him where they were going. Still in the surprised of the latter being capable of such a strong force, he found himself pushed out of the door not so gently before falling into the snow. The door clacked by the storming wind closed in front of him and no matter how much Mark knocked the door and called Nana's name, the door didn't bulge. 

The moon was rapidly setting in the horizon and before he knew, everything went completely white once again.

 

***

Mark lost conscience for the following days. He woke, from time to time, as his eyes met up with a white ceiling when the nurses changed his IV. He could feel his grandmother's hand on his and her soft patting but he couldn't find the strength of moving his hand or even tell her it is going to be ok. Donghyuk came a few time with Jisung and Chenle, and for once, Donghyuk, truly concerned, wasn't spitting mockery at him and told him softly that he will be fine.  

He received an unexpected visit on the third day after he has been hospitalized. It was the priest that he remembered as Taeyong. Mark wanted to ask so many questions stuck in his throat, yet found no voice coming out of his mouth. Instead, the male still dressed in his black robe sat beside his bed and closed his eyes mumbling some jargons he couldn't feel comprehend. Then he forced opened the younger's mouth before pouring down a cold liquid with a stingy smell down his throat almost choking Mark in the process. And after that all he could see was black. The next morning, his fever has finally dropped down to a less critical temperature and he can clearly grasp the situation, even sitting up on his own.

His grandmother broke into happy tears once they saw he got back to his usual self, as she thanked to all the gods she made her prayers to that protected him as his grandfather quickly placed out all the dishes grandma has carefully chosen and prepared for his recovery on his bed table.  

His body was getting better yet he has never dreamed of Nana after this. He even feared the idea of sleeping, of closing his eyes and fell into a dreamless world before waking up the next morning with his mind completely blank.   
   
After a week, Mark was to be healthy enough to be discharged from his hospital bed. 

As his grandparents went out to retrieve his medication, Mark sneaked out of the house and rushed into the only destination he had in mind for the past week.

Arriving at the shrine, Mark launched as soon as his gaze met the familiar familiar figure he was searching for yelling:

"What did you do to Nana?" 

"It's not me." The man turned around and stared straight into the younger's eyes and said: "If I'd have that much power, he wouldn't even be here anymore if it is not because of his cat."

"Why don't I get to see him anymore?" snapped Mark in despair. 

"I have no control over a being like him, the only way he could have cut all connection is if he did it on his own" said Taeyong before adding "If he didn't want to see you anymore."

Mark felt all strength leaving his body at the thought of that possibility and let go of the elder's collar.

"Go back home" Taeyong softened his tone at the younger's saddened look "Your body hasn't full recovered yet; you need rest."

Mark shook his head, his face drained of all colors, "I don't want to sleep anymore."

"Go home" Taeyong groaned getting annoyed, before promising "And I'll try to talk to him."

 

***

He woke up to the same scenery once again, yet this time the snow on ground is finally melting revealing parts of the ground. 

Despite the difficulty of walking through the snow and mud slush, Mark walked with a determined pace towards the familiar place.

Upon knocking twice, the younger that lingered on his mind for days was finally standing there again.

His skin even paler than normal, almost looking transparent, reflecting the sunlight as he was glittering under it.

"Hey" said Mark quietly as if he doesn't quite know how to interact with the younger anymore.

Nana greeted him back with his always so warm and charming smile that looks weaker:

"I knew you'd be back again."

"Are you sick?" asked Mark out of concern at the younger's ever slimmer frame.

After being responded with a negative, he continued asking, absent-mindedly passing a hand through his blonde curls: "Are you mad at me? I haven't seen you in a long time"  
Nana shook his head: "I am not, it is just I noticed you were sick too late because of my own selfishness, hanging unto you to get some company, but I am sorry it hurt you."

The blonde boy thought he needed to explain the reason of his visit and said:

"I have go to back to Canada in two days, but I'll come back and see you again next year?" Mark hurried on to promise "I'll bring you tons of gifts and I'll even bring my skates so I can teach you." 

Nana smiled yet shook his head slowly: "It is nice of you but it is time for me to leave as well."

His heart almost dropped to the ground. Hit by the sudden panic, Mark grabbed his shoulders eagerly asking:

"Where are you going?" 

"I don't know yet." answered honestly Nana. 

"How I am going to find you then?" eagerly pressed on Mark

"If we are destined to meet again, fate will cross our path once more." replied Nana with his usual grin.

There is a small moment of silence before Mark took a step forward:

"I brought you something, it is a red braided bracelet that an old lady has given me during the festival" pleaded Mark "Keep it as a souvenir of me?"

Nana seemed taken aback for a moment before a grin drew back unto his lips, and reached his arm forward.

Mark stepped closer and tightened it around the younger's wrist, fingers brushing over the always so cold skin, yet so soft and delicate like the owner himself.   
As he tightened the strings, Mark added: "I used to have one of those when I was seven-eight as well around my wrist, but for some reasons, I might have lost it and have never seen it after"

Nana whipped his head up, his pupils dilating as if he was hit by a lightening, but Mark was too busy focusing on his wrist to notice and said:

"It was the first time I came here as well."

The younger's breath hitched all of a sudden. Before Mark knew what was happening, Nana has grabbed his left arm not so gently and rolled up his sleeve half way.  
Nana was looking intently at the light scar on his forearm that was so long ago that Mark has forgot this existence.

And before Mark knew, a pair of arms were wrapped tightly around his neck, squeezing the other tighter and tighter in his embrace. For a split of second he noticed the sudden warmth of the latter's body that used to always be a cold touching sensation, but his mind soon became too preoccupied with the cry coming from the boy in his arms. 

"Thank you" He heard the younger sobbing unto his neck, ice droplet hit unto the creek of his neck "Thank you for growing up so well, thank you for letting me see you again."

Mark wanted tell him to not cry. He would have done everything instead of bearing seeing Nana sad, shower him with gifts, toys, all the fascinating treasures that human world has, read him book after book of stories, show him all the games and pleasantries, tell him how much he is loved, hold him, kiss him, anything that'd make him fell better. 

Yet he couldn't feel his arms anymore and his mind become foggy and his eyelids were too heavy to stand open.

Not now, please God, not now! Mark wanted to scream, wanted to yell that who ever made this fked up world to stop, to spare him even a fraction of second more staying in the latter's warmth.

Yet there was nothing he could do as Nana's figure became blurry and the white scenery around them melting away in a fast-forwarded manner. 

 

***

Mark woke up in the middle of the night, panting and sweating as if he just ran a marathon.  

But he couldn't care less about a shower now as he quickly put on his shoes and rushed towards the shrine in the middle of the night.  

The moon was high up in the sky and it was bright enough for him to distinguish Taeyong's figure standing at the entrance of the shrine as if he was waiting for the younger's arrival. 

He said a simple "You came" before waving the younger to approach. 

They entered the shrine in silence, and a few steps later, Mark stopped.

His mouth slightly opened, stunned by the view in front of him.

The denuded tree has now thousands of tiny yellow flower blooming on covering almost the sky. The petals rained down unto them leaving behind a sweet and calming aroma  
spilling unto the ground forming a golden carpet. 

"He left something for you." started Taeyong "But I'm sure he'd prefer if you'd go get it yourself" as he pointed towards the tree. 

Mark approached closer and noticed among the hundreds of living flowers, the one shining the brightest in the middle was made of silk.

He reached for it and pulled it down.

"Put it under your pillow" suggested Taeyong before turning around.

Mark nodded quietly with a small "Goodbye" and slowly walked home that night and once he reached his bedside again. He did as told before laying down and closing his eyes. 

 

 

***

It all started once upon a summer day.

It was the day that Jaemin finally managed to extract the necessary knowledge needed to enter the world of his dream. 

He ran away quietly from his mother once she left home, and escaped to a world that he heard so many fascinating and heart-breaking story of. 

Small and powerless creatures like him all has one of their senses taken away as a price for entering into the human world and his was his sight. But he didn't mind since his ears and nose are the sharpest and any chance of experiencing the human was more than thrilling.

The first thing he felt when his feet safely touched the ground was the sensation of warmth of the sunlight, so foreign to him who only lived with his mother at the highest altitude of mountains covered in its silver lining in a constant storm. The aroma that enters his nostrils seem to come from a mesmerizing plant that he'd later learned to be lilies. The singing of the birds and the cricking of cicadas entering his ears was bewitching. He stood there and let his senses registering all those new marvel. 

But he didn't stay there for long since there is much more experience awaiting ahead. 

Nana walked miles and miles without a specific destination in mind, yet it didn't matter, every part of this world was a thrilling adventure for him that he couldn't help but be excited about. 

He has balancing his feet a rock when a sound captured his attention.

It was like none of the animals he has came into contact previously since instead of the bark of a dog or the chirp of a bird, it was voice, a human voice. 

The voice become clearer even more than he felt someone approaching saying "Hey! Children shouldn't go up that rock! It is dangerous"

Nana stood there frozen, and before he knew how to react, he felt the touch of a warm skin on his hand. 

Panicked, his natural reflex raised his hand and slapped the intruder leaving behind a trail of icy burn of the latter's skin.

He ran away as quickly as he could, covering his ears to block the painful cry he left behind.

He came back the next day, giving himself the excuse that he hasn't fully visited the area yet to hide the concern he has for unintentionally causing harm to a human. 

"Oh here you are!" said the voice of yesterday.

"It is not nice to hurt others" scolded the small human that he learnt was called a child with his books. 

"...I'm sorry" Apologized quietly Nana looking down at the bandage around the child's hand.

"Why do you have a piece of white cloth hanging in front of your face?" asked the child innocently. 

"Because I can't see" answered quietly Nana with no bite in his voice.

Now it was the child's turn to apologize.

"How old are you?" asked again the child "You look younger than me."

Nana didn't quite know how to translate the concept of being 2000 years old in spirit world to the age of humans. 

Instead, he just spoke the first number out of his mind "5"

"Oh!" exclaimed the child "Then you are the same age as my brother. You should call me hyung."

And you should call me grandpa if you knew my real age, thought Nana. 

"So what's your name?" The child was scooting closer sitting down next to him.

Nana bite his lips; he remembers that his mother told him to never give out his name because people can use it against them. 

"And what's your name?" asked back Nana trying to divert the subject.

"I asked it first!" replied the child, but before he can continue, there is another distant voice calling over.

"I have to go" jumped down the child "so see you tomorrow?" 

Nana did not why he agreed to the second part as his head nodded on his own. 

The following weeks continued on like so and the child would always come and play with him. Bringing his toys for sharing and telling him anecdotes and questions that he didn't knew how to answer such as:

"My brother and I went to a haunted house yesterday. There is a lady there with a cloth hanging in front of her face, is she blind also?" 

The time passed much quicker with his company and Nana has never felt himself anticipating tomorrow so much. 

One day the boy came and Nana could tell that the enthusiasm in his voice was slightly diminished. 

Upon asking, he understood that the child only came here for the summer and had to go back home that is very very far away. 

Nana didn't say anything, but there is something nagging and empty growing inside his heart. 

"You know that tree with only branches over there?" asked suddenly the child guiding Nana by the hand towards the object in question and said:

"Grandma gave me some sweet dessert made of that flower and Mom said we'll be back next year when the flowers would have grown on it, so wait for me!"

Nana tied a red string around the child's wrist as an amulet and a souvenir of him before biding him one last goodbye. He waited there for three years in total; he wasn't getting  
tired, but got slightly worried since creatures like him didn't have worry about the span of their lives but he couldn't say the same for humans. 

Did he forget our promise? That thought has been growing inside his mind. 

At the end of the fourth summer, Nana decided to take matters into his own hand, if his friend isn't going to come find him, he is going to find his friend. 

It wouldn't be easy, he knew, since the human world was so immensely large, it was an impossible task to walk every places. Yet Nana managed to find a loop hole in the process of shuffling through his books. He could travel at night from into the dreams of humans and find it a little more quickly. The main problem of this plan was he wasn't a divinity associated with dreams; therefore, he sneaked into Baku-san's library at night and stole his book of spells. 

After, he travelled from dream to dream to the search of his friend, yet before he could succeed, Baku-san found him first. He was quite angry from the tone of his voice, Nana could tell and upon hearing the reason behind it, Baku-san seemed to be contemplating.

It wouldn't be fair to let him of without a punishment, but with Nana's mother being a term friend of his, Baku-san decided to make a him a deal. He would banish Nana into the land of dreams of the people living near the shrine, but he won't be able to decide which person's dream to enter, and how many time he'll appear in them. The only way out the never ending cycle would for the winter in the dream to end, and being a snow divinity, Nana knew his existence will be shattered if the snow melted.  
All the scene appeared an old movie rolling in front of him, it must have been Nana's memory of him, thought Mark and suddenly, he felt his own memory filling the blanks on its own. 

Indeed, he has met a quite strange kid during his first trip to Japan and befriended him. But the day before he boarded on the plane, a priest has come into his grandparents' house and tapped a small yellow sheet with strange character on his forehead. He didn't remember anything of the encounter after this. 

The newly discovered memories were too overwhelming to bear and he almost wanted to slap himself across the face. How could he have forgotten that? 

He was that asshole all along who made Nana waited and waited for years after years hanging unto that dearest memory.

As guilt and frustration were building up inside him, a dot of white light was flashing in the darkness, and now, he understood, the unexplainable thing he was chasing in his dream, was none other than this. 

The light has spoken up, the voice too warm and too familiar that Mark didn't realize the wetness forming in the corner of his eyes.

"It took you long to come back you fool" scolded the voice before chuckling "but thank you for keeping your promise."

"You have found me twice, now it is my turn to find you."

Mark felt there is a lump inside his throat that prevent him voicing out his feelings.

"My name is Jaemin" The light was blinking brightly like its owner's smiling his always so bright smile.

"Next time we meet, don't forget it!"

 

***

With the last bags throw into the trunk, Mark rushed to join Donghyuck kissing on the cheek of grandma for goodbye. 

Chenle was hugging tightly unto Jisung like a Koala forcing the younger to promise to send him postcards of Canada as soon as he got of the plan.

A familiar figure approached them among the crowd. Unlike the usual black robe he's always seen it, he changed to a normal t-shirt and cargo pants. 

Noticing Mark's questioning look, Taeyong explained with a lazy grin:

"There is no more reason for me to stay here anymore since they both left. It is time for me to pursue my own happiness, if he still even want to see me again."

Mark thought he might as well pay back the favour he owed him right now:

"If I may say, he is probably waiting for you to find him, just too proud to admit" 

To make his argument more valid, the blonde boy even exposed: "he even scratched me when I badmouthed about you" 

"What did you say?" 

"I said that you were a scary old uncle that looked like nothing of a priest"

"You deserved it" laughed out Taeyong seeming much more laidback than before. 

"Good luck then" said Mark shaking his hand and added cheekily "Say hi to Yuta hyung for me once you find him"

Taeyong shook his head at the remark before chuckling lowly to himself. 

All boarded unto the car, Mark turned around one last time to capture with his eyes that land that gave him the most unforgettable summer. 

 

\--------------------

One year later

 

"Don't worry mom, Johnny hyung drove me here."  
"Yes, yes, I know, I'm at the front of the dorm now, talk to you later, love you."  
Mark put his phone back inside his pocket and raised his eyes to the building in front of him.

His lips curled into a small smile upon the view of it before he pulls his suitcase towards the elevator and presses the floor with a sign saying "faculty of music."

He managed to find his room without much trouble and his roommate didn't seem to have arrived yet. After sorting out his luggage, Mark looked around with a towel on should trying to find the bathroom to take a shower. 

A small meow from the balcony caught his attention and his gaze was met with the same golden orbs shining in the reflection of the low afternoon sun. 

Mark stayed dumbfounded for a moment before sprinting towards it trying to catch it. The animal noticed his action moving faster than him and jumped into the living room. The cat then ran around in all directions in the dorm room as Mark chased after him. 

The doorbell rang when Mark was a finger away from catching him, he tried to calm his breath as he cursed at his roommate for finding the best time to arrive. 

But all sign of annoyance vanished once the door opened, revealing a young boy in trouser, his smile was a smile so sweet that made his knees weak with big doe eyes staring at his own before his ears were greeted with a heavenly voice:

"Sorry for bothering you, but I lost my cat and I saw him jump into one of this floor's balcony."

A meow resonated again behind Mark back and the animal that he was chasing after was now at the doorstep next to him, but he couldn't care less with his eyes glued on the newcomer not even daring to blink in the fear it is all a mirage. 

The boy bended down to secure the cat in his arms and grinned:

"Well looks like I knocked on the right door." 

The younger reached his hand forward and said:

"Oh, by the way, nice to meet you, neighbour, I am Na Jaemin.

**Author's Note:**

> In case you are curious about Nana's identity, he's actually a Yukinbo (the snow baby of yuki-onna, a female snow spirit).  
> And in case you are curious about that yellow flower kept being mentioned, it is the Sweet osmanthus, commonly used in pastries in Asia.


End file.
